5-2 Updates ~ 01/31/20

Hello 5-2 Parents ~

I hope you're managing to stay cheerful despite our seeming record run of cloudy days! At least we have the Superbowl to look forward to this weekend - that should bring some cheer into our homes :)

5 Essentials Survey

The 5Essentials Survey gives students, teachers, and parents the opportunity to provide input about the school environment. This data forms the basis for reliably predicting student outcomes and school improvement. Your feedback and input provide valuable information to the district and our schools. Please take a moment to share your thoughts on the important elements of school effectiveness in this survey: 
https://survey.5-essentials.org/illinois/

Important Dates

Global School Play Day ~ Wednesday, February 5th ~ Please send in games, toys, crafts, or dress-up activities with your child for a day of unstructured play!  NO ELECTRONICS, PLEASE!  We are specifically looking for math games during our math block, but the rest of the day is an unstructured day of play. For more information on this national movement, please click on this link: https://www.globalschoolplayday.com/

Valentine's Day Party ~ Wednesday, 02/12, 2:15-3:15pm ~ A great big THANK YOU to our wonderful room moms for planning our LAST classroom party! Consistent with our district allergy policy, we are asking that you DO NOT INCLUDE ANY FOOD OR CANDY ITEMS with your child's individual Valentines. There are many clever and creative alternatives to food items, including pencils, tattoos, stickers, & bubbles... but the nicest way to say "Happy Valentine's Day" is to write a nice note! We are also asking students to bring in something to collect their valentines. A simple box or bag is all that they will need.

Parent-Teacher Conferences ~ Thursday, 02/13 & Friday, 02/14 - watch for the Signup Genius link to be emailed on Monday. If you do not receive the link, or you have trouble signing up, please let me know. I look forward to meeting with all of you to discuss your child's progress!

Erin's Law ~ Wednesday, February 20th ~ A presentation about personal body safety is scheduled from 2:00-3:00pm, and will be made by our Social Worker, Mrs. Cheree Heardt. 

Math

Our math class just began Unit 9 Multiplying and Dividing Decimals this week. This unit is longer than the last several units, so we won't be testing until the last week of February. Please encourage your children to practice these skills on Khan Academy throughout this unit.

Science
Your child may have shared with you we began our investigation into Matter last week. They've been exploring the properties of the three states of matter through several experiments, and they even built a model that proves air has weight! Ask your child to describe their model, or have them show you the video they posted in our Google Classroom.

In this unit, students will:

~ Define matter and identify many of its common properties.

~ Become familiar with the common states of matter: solid, liquid, and gas.

~ Plan and conduct an investigation to prove that air has weight.

~ Conduct investigations on the physical properties of matter.

~ Show that the weight of matter doesn't change when heated or cooled.

~ Discover the differences between physical and chemical changes

~ Plan and conduct experiments to show weight of matter stays the same when changed.

~ Discover how unusual mixtures have properties unlike other materials.

Reading

We continue to explore the elements of nonfiction in our reading unit. In addition to their book club novel, your children should be reading nonfiction texts regularly to increase comprehension.

BioBottle projects and speeches are due on 02/11. Your child should have shared they will need a 2-liter bottle and a styrofoam ball to complete this project. They should be done with the organizer and summary by this point and begun work on the project itself. Ask your child to show you their progress on the project on Google Classroom.

Writing

Your children were excited to begin the publication process in our Fiction Unit this week. We will spend the next two weeks revising and editing our stories, then publishing after conferences. Your children are quite talented writers - I can't wait for you to read their published stories! 

As always ~ should you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to contact me!

"You will never have this day with your children again.  Tomorrow they will be a little bigger than they are today.  This day is a gift.  Breathe and notice.  Smell and touch them; study their faces and pay attention.  Relish the charms of the present.  

Enjoy today.  It will be gone before you know it."

― Jen Hatmaker

Cheers ~
Theresa Fowler

5-2 Updates ~ 01/10/20

Hello 5-2 Parents ~

Happy New Year! I hope you all enjoyed some relaxing time with your families over Winter Break.  I was so happy to see all the smiling faces and exciting chatter as your children entered the classroom on Monday - it's always so much fun to hear their stories of all they did on break! 

The new year brings some new expectations for your student as they are in the final stretches of their elementary years! We continue to increase independence and responsibility as your children begin to prepare for middle school. As you have noticed less communication from me, I have been encouraging your children to own their learning, and I have been SO impressed with the way they are maturing! Give your kids a pat on the back - they are working hard to independently manage their responsibilities. Encourage them to continue to use those organizations skills, such as checking their assignment notebook and accordion folder daily, and promote those self-advocacy skills by suggesting they seek support when help is needed. As always, if you see your child struggling with this transition, please let me know.

Important Dates

5 Essentials Survey ~ Wednesday, January 15th ~ 11:00am

As 5th graders, your children will participate in completing the 5Essentials Survey. For more information about this survey, please click on this link.

http://help.5-essentials.org/customer/en/portal/articles/780471-illinois-5essentials-faqs

Robert Crown ~ Puberty Education:  Friday, January 17th

On Thursday afternoon, if your child has permission to attend the Puberty Education, they will complete a pre-test and pre-learning activity that introduces the content for the program. On Friday, girls will attend the program in the morning, boys will attend in the afternoon.

Opposite the program, students will watch the Ruby Bridges movies. This movie is not rated - you will find information about the movie on the following Common Sense link:

https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/ruby-bridges

If your child is not participating in the Puberty program, they will be engaged in an alternate activity. If you have specific questions or concerns, please email me directly.

No School ~ Monday, January 20th - MLK Day

Monday Schedule ~ Thursday, January 23rd ~ We will have PE/Music instead of LMC.

Math

We've been working hard to learn how to calculate area or rectangles and triangles since we returned from break, and we're already getting ready for the test! Students will participate in self-selected review stations on Monday, then take the Chapter 5 Assessment on Tuesday, January 14th.

Social Studies

Now that the Revolutionary War is won, we are a free nation...and with that comes the responsibility and struggle of organizing a government. As your children learned before break, there were some significant problems with the Articles of Confederation that resulted in Shays' Rebellion. We moved on to learn about the Constitutional Convention and students learned of the challenges our forefathers faced as they argued the best form of government for our new nation. We learned how our early government settled on our Constitution, and they created a project demonstrating their understanding of 3 branches of government. We returned from break to play a game imagining different scenarios as a way to review the key powers for each branch of government. Your children took the Chapter 14 Assessment this week - look for the graded score cards to come home early next week for a sign and return.

We continued our study of the Constitution by introducing the Bill of Rights, the first 10 amendments. Our discussion of these amendments has been lively as your children have been learning about their rights as American citizens. Next week we will complete a project as a way to review the Bill of Rights. The Chapter 15 Assessment is scheduled for Thursday, January 16th.

Reading

We wrapped up our Fiction Unit before break with the Summative Assessment, and we began our Nonfiction Unit when we returned on Monday. Your kids have spent time this week choosing nonfiction books for their reading bin, discussing the different types of nonfiction, as well as identifying the many structures of nonfiction. 

Every student should have chosen a biography to read this week. They should have this biography read by Tuesday, January 21st. We will use this book to create a BioBottle project and speech. The project descriptor will be shared with them on the 21st.

Writing

Our new writing unit is Fiction. Your children have really enjoyed the freedom that writing fictional story brings. They have laughed while listening to excellent examples of fictional text, and have explored writing about "messy" situations, interesting characters, and asking fun "What if?" questions. My personal favorite: What if monkeys escaped from the zoo and ended up in my backyard. We will be writing fiction for the next 5-6 weeks.

As always ~ should you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to contact me!

“While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is all about.”         

Cheers ~
Theresa Fowler